Set in the foothills of the looming Alps, this deeply atmospheric thriller follows Yohan Vives, an ambitious, disciplined young detective as he takes up a post at the Grenoble police station. His first case as the bureau's new chief is a tough one. A young woman named Clara Royer has been murdered, set on fire as she walked home from a party, apparently by someone who knew her. Vives teams up on the case with an older partner, Marceau, whose long career with the Police Judiciaire (the criminal investigation department) has started to take its toll.

Their investigation delves into Clara's sexual relationships with the men who now constitute the prime suspects in her murder and their often disturbing attitudes toward her. But the film is just as interested in the attitudes of the men responsible for solving such cases, and how those attitudes—toward gender, sex, and violence—inform their work. As a judge observes to Vives at one point in his investigation, "There is something seriously amiss in the relationship between men and women."

Based on two chapters of a true crime book, "18.3 - A Year with the Judicial Police," and an actual unsolved case, this immersive police procedural is ultimately a powerful portrait of the society that produces criminals and detectives alike, those who commit the crimes and those responsible for solving them as best they can.

Director
Dominik Moll

Date of release
2023

Running time
115 min

Rating
15

Country of origin
France, Belgium

Language
French/English with English subtitles